N. Korea’s 2011 China Trade Grew More Than 60 Percent

(Corrects China-North Korea trade figure in second
paragraph in story published Dec. 27.)

Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea’s trade with China
expanded more than 60 percent to $5.63 billion in 2011, as the
totalitarian regime deepened its dependence on its main
political and financial backer.

Commerce with China accounted for 70.1 percent of the
North’s total $8 billion trade in 2011, up from 57 percent in
the previous year, South Korea’s national statistics office,
Statistics Korea, said in its annual report today in Seoul.
North Korea does not report economic data. Inter-Korean trade
amounted to about $1.71 billion in the same year.

China provides North Korea economic aid and serves as its
diplomatic shield at the United Nations Security Council. As a
veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, China
has resisted efforts to impose fresh punishment against North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un over a Dec. 12 missile launch that
demonstrated a heightened ballistic capability.

Excluding a dip in 2009, trade between the two countries
has increased every year since the start of 2000, when the
statistics bureau started releasing estimates. Data for 2012
will be released around the end of next year.

North Korea’s economy expanded 0.8 percent in 2011 and
gross national income per capita was 1.33 million won ($1,239),
nearly one nineteenth that of South Korea’s 25 million won,
according to the Bank of Korea. South Korea’s total nominal
gross national income was 38.2 times that of the North’s 32.44
trillion won.

The regime imported 3.8 million barrels of crude oil for
2011. Power generation capacity was 6.9 million kilowatts, less
than one-10th that of South Korea. Steel production was 1.23
million tons and production of chemical fertilizer production
was 471,000 tons.

North Korea’s population rose to 24.3 million in 2011 from
24.2 million the previous year -- about half of South Korea’s.
Population estimates were based on North Korea’s 1993 and 2008
censuses.